Hi dear Hive community,
Crossing the desert of Merzouga by sunrise. A place surround by dunes, making new friends and sleeping a night in the wild.
In the morning we woke up at the climbing paradise Todra Gorge, we chose to hitchhiked to Merzouga but before we stopped for some nice breakfast and to by some dates as they are famous in the region.
The journey was very exiting as many people stopped to pic us up. We reached Merzouga in the late afternoon and decided to stay with a couple from Switzerland which we got along quit well after getting them to know during the ride in their over lander (caravan).
After a nice dinner in the over lander and a walk to enjoy the sunset we finally went tired from the day meeting a lot of new people to sleep. The van Franzi and Jan had a small extra room where we easily had a enough space so sleep. Only it was a bit cold but next time we will bring more warm sleeping bags with us.
In the morning we wanted to see the sunrise so we quietly moved out from the van. I was cold but OK as the excitement was worth high to see the driest sun beams and to cross to desert to walk back to the village Merzouga. After a beautiful walk over 3 hours we finally reached the town were we headed to the next coffee bar. On the way in the desert we found some amazing small rocks which look like meteorites and yes the are meteorites as locals confirmed later in the day. Tired from the long walk and the freezing night in the van we looked for the first best opportunity to get a nice room with hot shower to relax and to enjoy the rest of our time in Merzouga.
In the next day we where trying different foods and went to watch the sunrise.
Merzouga is a famous tourist destination in Moroccan. A small town at the beginning of the Sahara desert. It's located on the west side of Morocco, very close to the Algerien boarder.
Merzouga is a typical village with one Bus station and one main street with all the restaurants and shops. People love to come here to get a taste of the desert especially now as the temperatures where ideal for outdoor activities, many people come to do camel rides, renting of quads, doing sand boarding or camping in luxurious camps entertained by evening fire and traditional music. We skipped the preplanned activities and went to explore on our own.
We were surprised by the vegetation as it was green and grass was growing in the desert. We could see many desert flowers and interesting plants. Specially the pink flower is very important to the people in the region and that can be see in the colour of the houses which are all pink representing this flower.
Certain parts of the desert are not with typical orange sand, but a raw grey sand. The land from far away appears black and it makes very good contrast on the photos. It's worth to walk around here as you can see and find many interesting rock formations from different materials. Most cool ones are parts of meteorites, which are black or red in colour and have a very specific shapes.
In the night the sky turns so beautiful. There are more stars than ever and they shine even more bright. It's like a one million star hotel.
In general there was not much tourism as in January and February is the main season for overlanders like caravans, motorbikes, camper vans and trucks.
Thank you for reading and more in the next one.
Wish you all a nice day!
!worldmappin 31.081262 lat -4.010997 long <Desert vibes from Merzouga, Morocco> d3scr